IceHogs News

Rockford, Ill.- Give up three goals in the first period of a hockey game and usually it results in a loss. That’s what happened for the IceHogs on Friday at the MetroCentre, as they were put away by the Quad City Flames 5-3 in front of 5,435 fans.

Both offenses came out of the blocks strong, swapping goals to bring the score to 3-2 by the end of the first. Quad City's David Van der Gulik started the spree at 3:21 with his fifth goal of the season off of assists by Warren Peters and Carsen Germyn. But Prestin Ryan responded at 4:06 to tie the game at one. Dave Bolland and Adam Berti had assists on the marker.

Krys Kolanos provided the puck for Adam Cracknell's power play goal at 6:31 but Rockford responded quickly with a power play goal of their own. Troy Brouwer tied the match again at 8:22 off of assists from Petri Kontiola and Bolland. But the Flame’s Germyn-Peters-Van der Gulik front line put another point on the board. This time Germyn and Van der Gulik assisted on a Peters goal at 16:18 to make the score 3-2 at the end of the first.

Quad City added to their lead in the second frame with a shot from Peters at 5:10 with assists by Adam Pardy and Matt Pelech to push the score to 4-2. In the end, that would be all the Flames needed. Rockford goalie Corey Crawford, who was given the loss, was pulled from the game and Wade Flaherty took over.

Brouwer closed the gap back up with his second power-play goal of the night at 13:18. The winger took off from the blue line on a breakaway and flicked the puck around Flames goalie Brent Krahn, who was sprawled on the ground after tripping on the ice. Wade Flaherty and Cam Barker were credited with the assists.

But Brett Sutter added an insurance marker at 13:58 in the third period to bring the final to 5-3. Crawford made nine saves and Flaherty finished with 13 total saves in relief. On the other side of the ice, Brent Krahn stopped 21 shots.

Next Home Game: Sunday, Nov. 25 vs. Grand Rapids Griffins. The puck drops at 4:05 p.m. Rockford welcomes the Griffins back to the MetroCentre for the second and final time this season. The first 1,000 fans to the game will receive IceHogs Poster #2 courtesy of Pepsi, Johnson Press, Medicine Man and WTVO-TV channel-17. Also, don’t forget your skates as following the game is another Skate With The Hogs.